Murder, Loss and Vengeance Across the Post-Civil War Frontier

Chenneville by Paulette Jiles

It’s a well-established fact that journalist, poet, and author of multiple works of fiction and non-fiction Paulette Jiles is a powerhouse, award-winning, best-selling writer whose work you don’t want to miss. Her latest book Chenneville is an exceptional example of historical fiction, solidly grounded in real history. The subtitle is A Novel of Murder, Loss and Vengeance which concisely summarizes the plot. 

It doesn’t begin to convey the emotional trauma and single-minded determination of protagonist John Chenneville whose odyssey takes him on a lengthy journey through post-Civil War ravaged frontier lands. This grief-stricken man, not fully healed from war wounds, is heavily burdened with loss and an unflagging commitment to avenge his family. 

As the months pass and his dogged pursuit continues, there emerge glimpses of hope; the faint chance of love and redemption.  Readers will mourn with him, admire his fortitude and applaud his humanity. It is one of the finest and most accurately rendered novels of this era I have read.

Surviving The Worst and Journeying Home

Jean-Louis Chenneville, known outside of his family as John, was grievously wounded near the end of the war. He was a telegrapher whose communication station was aboard a barge carrying 5000 pounds of gunpowder, many men and critically needed supplies. While anchored in the James River, rebel forces succeeded in blowing up the barge. 

Many were killed instantly and others later succumbed to their wounds. John was blown overboard and his head was struck a glancing blow by a piece of anchor chain. He was a Missourian in the GAR (Grand Old Army of the Republic) serving as a First Lieutenant of the 80^th New York Infantry. 

He awoke in late September 1865, in a large field hospital in tiny City Point, Virginia on the outskirts of Petersburg, at the confluence of the James and Appomattox Rivers. Unbeknownst to him the war had ended over five months earlier. 

He had miraculously survived the major lateral skull fracture that left him with a massive scar and few memories but in possession of all of his limbs, sight and hearing intact and still able to speak both English and French. It would take the better part of a year for him to regain his mobility; to walk without wobbling on two canes and balance his weight sufficiently to climb into a saddle and resume riding without falling. 

His Uncle Basile Chenneville made all the travel arrangements for him to return to his 700-acre family plantation Marais Temp Clair (Fair weather marsh) where they had a tobacco farm with a productive apple orchard. Home was approximately 18 miles north of St. Louis. A short time later, his uncle traveled up the Mississippi River from Louisiana where the family had a second home to meet him in Missouri. 

Funds were provided by his uncle and John hired Lemuel, the Army nurse who had cared for him throughout his months in a semi-coma. Lemuel was cheerful, capable and enterprising although regrettably possessed by a penchant for occasional thievery.   

The journey back to Missouri was long, arduous and frustrating as John Chenneville struggled to recall distant memories while still regaining his physical strength. The sight of the formerly immaculately tended plantation, now in near ruinous condition, was a shock. The farm laborers had gone with the war and only elderly family retainer/Majordomo Fermin remained. 

A Brutal Murder and a Plan for Vengeance

Hiring new household help, he gradually began to restore order while waiting for Uncle Basile to arrive with news of his mother, vivacious younger sister Lalie, her CSA officer husband William Callaway and their infant son Jean-Louis.

 Following the death of his father in 1863, the family had elected to relocate to Confederate Louisiana chiefly to avoid marauding border guerrillas out to kill rebels.  The reunion with Uncle Basile was heart-wrenching and bittersweet, bringing the news the young couple and baby had been brutally murdered and his inconsolable mother nearly catatonic with grief rendered incapable of speech.

Although known, the murderer was almost untouchable; a former Union Army soldier and remorseless killer named A.J. Dodd who also went by the aliases Garoute or Pruitt. At the time of these murders, Dodd was a deputy sheriff among Union sympathizers who declined to investigate or prosecute since Chenneville’s brother-in-law had been a Confederate officer.

John Chenneville settled his affairs; making arrangements for the care of Fermin and the sale of his estate should he be unable to return to Missouri. At 6’3’, broad-shouldered with fair hair and blue eyes, he could have resembled a rugged 19th-century version of a Clint Eastwood character embarking on a mission of vengeance. His pursuit lasted over a year taking him to hazardous places filled with desperados. He becomes a wanted man, falsely accused of murdering an English telegrapher who kindly gave him shelter during a storm resulting in a U.S. Marshall named Giddens trailing him. 

A. J. Dodd is a feral, cold-blooded killer who kills and travels fast by night. He always robs the corpses of cash, valuables and a keepsake of some sort; after murdering Chenneville’s family, he kept two gold–framed family daguerreotypes. Dodd is also a notorious horse thief thinking nothing of stealing a man’s only mount then riding them until they are dead or injured. As a result of his heartless and brutal methods, he manages to keep several days ahead of the resolute man who resolutely chases him across the lawless frontier.  

Unique Difficulties of the Border States

While many Civil War novels have focused chiefly on the Reconstruction period in the former Confederate states, few vividly depict the unique difficulties, unrest and lawlessness that long affected the frontier Border States, particularly Missouri. Her citizens had been divided in their support for the Union or the Confederacy with about 110,000 men taking up arms in the US Army and 40,000 for the Confederacy. Many of its early southern sympathizing settlers came from Virginia and Kentucky including Daniel and Rebecca Boone and their family. 

Attesting to divided loyalties during the four years of war, Missouri had rival state governments with representatives in both the US and Confederate Congresses. There were over 1200 battles and skirmishes of varying sizes fought in this state during 1861-1865. “Bleeding Kansas” refers to the numerous violent confrontations between pro and anti-slavery factions between 1855-1859. Three years before his ill-fated raid on Harper’s Ferry, WV, John Brown and other abolitionists were responsible for the Pottawatomie massacre which murdered five settlers in cold blood. 

Civil War’s Effect on Families — and Presidents

Although sparking less violence, the situation in neighboring Kentucky was similar to that of Missouri. Kentucky was officially neutral but showed strong support for both sides. The Commonwealth of Kentucky was the birthplace of the two rival Presidents; Jefferson Davis in 1808 and Abraham Lincoln in 1809. Bowling Green was Kentucky’s Confederate capital for eighteen months. As the major terminus of the L & N (Louisville and Nashville) railway line, it was crucial to supply lines, thus making it hotly contended. 

Families were deeply affected and often fractured. Interestingly, Varina Davis had been educated in Philadelphia by Quaker Abolitionists, while Mary Todd Lincoln’s family was firmly rooted in the south.  Her brother George and three half-brothers served in the Confederate Army. Alexander and Samuel were killed in battle and David wounded. Mary’s half-sister Emilie Todd was married to CSA Brigadier General Benjamin Hardin Helm who was killed in the Battle of Chickamauga. 

Abraham Lincoln was fond of the couple and saddened when Helm declined to serve in the Union Army. It has been said both Abraham and Mary were deeply distressed when they learned of his death. Unusually and with harsh criticism from both sides, in December, 1863, the young widow was granted passage through enemy lines for a six-day visit with the Lincolns in the White House. 

The third border state was West Virginia, which after separating from Confederate Virginia became the 35th state on June 20, 1863. This rugged, hilly western part of Virginia was made of far smaller farms and fewer families owned slaves. However, 5-7% of the overall population were enslaved and not freed until 1865 for the Emancipation Proclamation only affected “states in rebellion.”  As the years passed and the country healed the veteran “Damn Yankees” and “Johnnie Rebs” marched together in regularly held Civil War Reunions.

However, particularly in Missouri and Kansas, bushwhackers, guerrilla fighters, renegades, scofflaws, and criminals, many of whom fought in the long war were now without the meager income that provided and roamed the war-torn frontier robbing and sometimes killing. Paulette Jiles knowledgeably and deftly conveys some of the challenges of the time in the gripping, masterful Chenneville. Book discussion groups would have much to discuss with this exciting novel reminiscent of some books written by Larry McMurtrey. It would be a compelling film in the hands of an insightful filmmaker.